


The Secret Origin of Rip Hunter

by VigilantePond



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2018-05-16 02:49:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5810689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VigilantePond/pseuds/VigilantePond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Vandal Savage kills Rory Williams' wife and son, Rory turns to the Time Masters for revenge on Savage. With the help of his daughter River Song, who shows him her alter ego Dinah Lance and the world of Starling City, Rory becomes Time Master Rip Hunter and recruits 8 misfits to help him stop Savage, and avenge Amy and Jonas' deaths.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. After the Angels

**Author's Note:**

> I know in the show Legends of Tomorrow, the beginning scene with Vandal Savage's raid in London takes place far into the future but for this fic's sake it takes place in the '30s where Rory and Amy were sent back to. I also changed a few other things which don't go exactly according to the scene in the show.

Rory Williams thought his life was finally turning itself around. After getting sent back to the '30s by the weeping angels, he thought his life was over. In a literal sense, it was – Rory Arthur Williams was declared dead in 2012. It took him 2 and half years to find his wife Amy Pond, who was sent back to Pennsylvania by the angels. Life without The Doctor was difficult for the Ponds to adjust to, but after a couple years they settled down, and adopted a son, Jonas. They loved and treated him just as if he were their biological child. Amy worked as a writer, and Rory was mostly a stay at home dad who occasionally helped out at a friend’s shop. Occasionally, they would reminisce about The Doctor and their adventures, wondering what their friend is up to now. Sometimes Rory would hear Amy softly sobbing at night, after waking up from dreams of The Doctor. They told their son all the tales about the timelord, but Jonas still seemed doubtful about this mad man with a box.

“Why do we always set an extra plate?” Jonas would ask at dinner time.

“Because The Doctor might show up,” Amy would reply. But of course, he never did.

After dinner, the Ponds took their son out for a walk at Hyde Park. They moved to London after being sent to New York by the angels, because they thought there would be a better chance of finding the Doctor there. Besides, New York held too many painful memories now. The sky was dark, and the air was chilly but Amy felt a sense of calmness.

“I don’t like the statues, mummy. They give me heebie-jeebies,” Jonas whispered to Amy.

“I don’t like them either,” Amy replied. They weren’t weeping angels, just normal statues, but regardless they still made her uneasy.

“I’m going to grab some snacks, okay?” Rory announced. Amy nodded and took Jonas further into the park.

Suddenly, there was an ear-splitting crash, followed by several bombs dropping from the sky one by one, in subsequent _boom boom boom_ s. There were countless men shooting blasters at people in the park. Amy immediately shielded her son’s body and attempted to take cover behind a bench. Her first thought was that this was an alien attack, like the many that she had been through with The Doctor. _The Doctor… The Doctor must be here, he’s always at the heart of a disaster, and he would save the day_ , she thought., _He always does._ What were these? Daleks, maybe? Why was London always the target of these alien raids? Amy held her son close to her chest and kept her faith in The Doctor. Her heart rushed, maybe because she was terrified that she was in the midst of an attack, or because she had high hopes of seeing The Doctor again.

“It’s going to be okay, Jonas. Everything will be alright,” Amy whispered to her son.

“Is he going to save us, The Doctor?” Jonas asked.

“Of course he will,” Amy replied.  From her spot she could see a man, with a thick black beard and a long coat, accompanied by other menacing looking men with large guns. They didn’t appear alien, but then again, neither did The Doctor. Precipitously, a man took Amy from behind by surprise, and yanked her away from Jonas.

“Mum!” Jonas screamed.

Amy struggled to break free from the man, but his grip was as tight as iron. She tried kicking, punching, and biting, but nothing worked. Amy wasn’t sure if the man was human or alien, he was completely covered in black clothing, and held a massive gun to her head. Tears surged from Amy’s eyes, as she knew she was about to die- again. A million thoughts streamed through her head, _what is going on? Who are these men? Why isn’t The Doctor here to save us? Where is Rory? Will Jonas be okay?_

“Jonas. Listen to mummy. You’ve got to be really, really, brave, okay? Can you do that? Find daddy. “ Amy cried. Then, turning to her captor, she looked him in the eye and said,” I’m not afraid of you. I’ve seen worse things, I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. Let me go right now, or you’ll have the worst enemies of the universe against you.”

“You’re a brave one, aren’t you?” he sneered. “Nice try, but if you think you’ve faced the worst then you obviously haven’t met Vandal Savage. He makes Daleks exterminate each other, and Cybermen _feel_ fear.”

“What about The Doctor then? The Doctor is Vandal Savage’s worst nightmare,” Amy rambled on proudly, although she had no idea who Vandal Savage was. Although, clearly this man knew all about Daleks and Cybermen, so she assumed they were some sort of alien too.

Her captor’s lip curled, and he said. “The Doctor? Doctor Who?” and pressed the trigger.

Jonas covered his mouth and let out a muffled cry, as he watched his mother’s life end. To his shock, the bearded man, Vandal Savage himself approached him.

“What’s your name, son?” he asked. He looked big and scary to Jonas, he didn’t have much hair, except a thick black beard that all villains in his storybooks seemed to have. There was a glint of evil in his eye, and he held a weapon in his arms.

Jonas was too terrified to talk, but he remembered what his mum told him before she died. He knew he had to be very brave. _I’m a brave boy, I’m not afraid_ , he thought to himself. “Jonas.” He replied.

Savage laughed, it was a cacophonic sound, like a choking animal. “Your mother was brave, and your father is foolish. Which one do you take after?”

Jonas hated this man. He hated him so much, for taking his mother away from him, and for being so mean. Unsure of what the correct response was, he spat in his face. Jonas was beyond frightened, and as hard as he did to be brave, he knew he didn’t have much time left. He wanted to see his mum again.

"Your mother then." Promptly, in response to the spit in his face, Savage shot Jonas dead as well.


	2. Daughter Knows Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rory reunites with a familiar face, who offers to help him find Savage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a short chapter. Also, I'm fairly new to the whole DC universe and the comic world is so confusing I apologize in advance most of this will probably not be very comic-canon since I don't know much about it and the show has only aired the pilot so far so I don't have much to work with.

Rory returned to Hyde Park, and saw the place engulfed in flames and in ruins. He dropped everything in his hands, just as his heart plummeted.

“No. NO!” He yelled into the night. There were corpses scattered throughout the grass, along smoke and fire everywhere. The men responsible were just leaving in their pods, flying away one by one as if they didn’t just commit mass murder. “Amy! Jonas!” he cried, and frantically ran around searching for them. He couldn’t bear to lose Amy again, not after everything that they had been through. He had died multiple times, and always came back, it should have been him that was killed in the park tonight. Amy Pond deserved to live. And Jonas... His son, he was still so young, and full of potential. It tore Rory apart to see Amy and Jonas’ bodies, limp and lifeless. He held them both in his arms and dropped to his knees, then howled in pain. He thought of the time when he was an Auton Roman, and in that timeline he held Amy in his arms when she was dead. Flashbacks of their tombstones flooded his mind; _In loving memory of Rory Arthur Williams Aged 82 And His Loving Wife Amelia Williams Aged 87._ This wasn’t supposed to happen, Amy was supposed to outlive him. Time was being rewritten again. He had nothing left now, absolutely nothing. The love of his life and his son was gone forever and nobody could fix this. He was truly alone now in a time period where he didn’t belong. Rory let out another scream of agony, and then punched the ground in fury.

“Vandal Savage! Remember his name!” a man hollered from one of the fleeing pod ships, and disappeared without a trace.

 _Vandal Savage Vandal Savage Vandal Savage_. The words dug into Rory’s mind like daggers, carving the name into his brain. He kissed Amy and Jonas, and vowed to seek revenge for them. “I’m not going to get Vandal Savage get away with this, I promise.”

Weeks after the funeral and moping around the house, Rory was desperate for help. He knew The Doctor could probably do something, but complicated paradoxes prevented him from entering his time stream.

Rory entered the coffee shop which he found himself spending much of his time at, and was caught in surprise by a familiar face he had not seen in a long time. Her fair golden hair was not in its usual wild disarray of curls, but rather sleek and styled in neat waves. It was odd to see her in a practical black coat, rather than a unique getup. He did however recognize, the vortex manipulator on her wrist, a brown leather cuff with a silver device on the inside.

“R-River?” he stuttered.

“Hello, dad,” she said.

Suddenly, Rory recalled seeing a glimpse of her at Amy and Jonas’ funeral. He had thought he was imagining things, but now it made more sense. “That was you, at the –“ he choked at the word funeral, he couldn’t say it. He couldn’t completely accept the fact that they were gone.

“How could I miss it?” she replied. “I’m so sorry, Rory.”

Rory and River found themselves a small table at the corner where they could chat quietly in private.

“Do you happen to know anything about Vandal Savage?” Rory asked in a hushed voice. He feared that Savage or his men were around somehow.

River sighed,” That’s precisely the reason why I came to find you. I heard about what happened, and I’ll help you as much as I can. One thing you should know about Vandal Savage is that he appears everywhere all throughout time. This man is immortal, with his roots dating back to an Egyptian priest named Hath-Set. First, I think you should go find the Time Masters.”

“The Time Masters? What, like Timelords?” Rory asked.

“Not…exactly. The Timelords would seem like the best choice, but they’ve made themselves untraceable. This is a lot to take in, it’s complicated I know. The Time Masters are an organization to protect history and keep time in order.” River explained.

 None of this made sense to Rory, but he would do anything to defeat Savage. His hopes did dwindle a bit after hearing how powerful Savage was, but Rory had done some pretty impressive things himself in the past with The Doctor. Oh, The Doctor… if only he could help him. “Alright, then. How do I find these Time Masters?”

River tapped her wrist and smiled slyly. “I’ve got a Vortex Manipulator. Come on.”  


	3. My Name Is Rip Hunter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> River takes Rory to the Time Labs in Arizona, and he adopts a new name, marking the first transformation into a Time Master.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I've tried researching as much as I can about the Time Masters, their whereabouts, how they get names and initiated etc, but there really isn't much especially when there are so many comics it is a bit confusing. So this is my take on all of this, I think it is a little bit of the show, comics, and my own imagination combined. I may have some canonical errors, but ... whatever. Hope you like it.

Rory stumbled forward onto his hands and knees, as if he had just dropped out of the sky. His hands were scraped with angry red marks and mud, but his landing wasn’t too bad for a first time use of a Vortex Manipulator. 

 

“You know, I really prefer travelling on a TARDIS,” Rory muttered, and brushed his hands off lousily on his trousers. 

 

Then, he took in his surroundings. It was all very breathtaking; the rocky red mountains which towered against the azure sky, and tall prickly cacti stood proudly in rows along the dessert. It reminded him of Utah, which he’d been to with The Doctor, Amy, and River before, but he knew it was not quite. Were they even on Earth? Could the red mountains mean Mars? 

 

“Arizona, United States,” River grinned. 

 

She smoothed her hair down and walked towards an open space in the crowded cacti coterie. Slowly, she raised her arm and gently placed the hand in the air, as if touching something. Very gradually a building began to form, it rippled into existence like currents in the lake. It appeared to be a vast building, composed to a series of rectangular structures, and a black dome on top. There were lengthy blue tinted windows, while the rest of the building was a sleek silver colour.

 

Immediately alerted to the intruders, a tall man stepped out to greet them. He wore a long grey coat which reached his neck, and his salt-and-pepper hair was close cropped. Instantly, his eyes flashed as they met River’s.

 

“Dinah Lance,” he said, with no readable expression on his face. 

 

“Time Master Zaman Druce. Good to see you again,” River replied, in an American accent. 

 

Rory stood behind, bewildered. So River went by Dinah now? And had apparently gone American?  

 

“I hope you remember the favour you owe me, from Zubosko,” River continued, raising one eyebrow in indication. 

 

Zaman Druce’s mouth hung open and he slowly nodded. “Ahh..yes. Of course, Mrs. Lance.” 

 

“My friend here requires your help,” she replied, gesturing towards Rory. “You Time Masters protect the timeline and ensure that all of time is on order, but it has been recently corrupted. He wishes to enroll at your Time Master Academy, and train to be a Time Master.” 

 

Rory was admittedly, afraid. The only things he had right now to hang on to was hope, and his faith in River- er, Dinah. He fixed his eyes on Druce, trying to figure out if he could truly trust him on this task. If only The Doctor could help him, but the madman with a box was nowhere to be found. Rory hoped that the timelord didn’t get himself into any danger, but perhaps right now his biggest concern should be his own wellbeing and safety. After Time Master Druce reluctantly accepted River’s plea, he gestured for Rory to follow him inside. 

 

“All the best luck to you, dad,” River/Melody/Dinah said. 

 

Rory gulped, “You’re not coming?”  Then again, he wasn’t surprised. This was, after all, River Song. No matter what name or appearance she took, her personality was the same. River frequently popped in and out of the Doctor’s life, usually at times when he needed her most. Rory would likely see her again. 

 

“When the time comes, when you’re ready, you can find me in Starling City.” she grinned, and with that, she vanished with her Vortex Manipulator. 

 

“My name is Time Master Zaman Druce, and I will now be your mentor here,” the man told Rory. 

 

“Oh, my name is-” Rory started, but Druce held up a hand to stop him. 

 

“It’s better for you to choose a new name here. That may as well be the first thing you need to know as a Time Master. If nobody knows your name, then nobody will try going back in time to kill you and therefore cease your existence from time. Think of this as a fresh start for you, with a new name.” 

 

Rory sucked in his breath and gave this a long thought. This new name had got to be a good one. Names are very powerful indeed, he thought. His mind drifted to The Doctor again, how nobody, except possibly River Song, knew his true name. “The Doctor”, meant healer, and wise man. Rory wanted his new name to mean something powerful, too. He wanted something that began with an R… Ronald? No, that wasn’t “cool” enough. Rex? Too dinosaur-y. Maybe..  _ Rip _ . Perfect, he thought. Now for his surname, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to steer anywhere near Pond or Williams. Maybe it was right to leave the past behind, while moving on with motivation from the past, which was the whole point of his mission to  _ hunt _ down Vandal Savage. Rory stood up inches straighter, appearing more confident, and puffed out his chest. 

 

“My name is Rip Hunter.” 


	4. Tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rory Williams, now with his new identity as Rip Hunter, gets settled into the Time Masters Academy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now that the show has revealed more about Rip Hunter's past, this obviously won't be close to canon anymore.

Rory, who now had his new identity Rip Hunter, followed Time Master Druce into the facility. Rip was no stranger to new bizarre places, since he had visited all sorts of alien planets with The Doctor. There were people in navy blue, high collared uniforms walking around with a brisk gait, their expressions blank and serious. 

 

“You are a friend of Dinah Lance?” Druce asked. 

 

For a second Rip forgot that he wasn’t the only one with a new name; his daughter Melody Pond, later known as River Song, now apparently went by Dinah Lance. He parted his thin lips and hesitated to reply.  _ I’m her father _ , Rip wanted to tell him; Surely if the Time Masters were familiar with time travel they would have no problem accepting that.

 

“Er- yes.”

 

“What do you know about the Time Masters, Rip?” 

 

Rip shook his head and shrugged. “I haven’t any idea.” 

 

“As Time Masters, our duty is to keep time from tearing itself apart. We make sure that all of history stays as it is supposed to be, as well as the present and future. The entire time stream must stay orderly, and protect time itself. I hope you understand the extreme importance of our organization. Time travel is not to be done lightly, a small mistake could erase people from their existence, and drastically endanger the world,” Druce explained.

 

“I understand. I’ve done some time travelling myself too,” Rip nodded. 

 

Rip decided not to bother with understanding how time lords and time masters coexisted in the same dimension. Or did they? At some point in his travels with The Doctor, he had stopped trying to wrap his head around everything and just accepted all the new things he learned along the way. 

 

Druce was about to make a comment, but he was interrupted by a lady who greeted him. “Good afternoon, Time Master Druce,” she smiled. 

 

Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and seemed prim and proper like the other Time Masters, but her eyes showed sparks of softness and kindness that the others lacked. 

 

“Rip Hunter, this is Miranda Coburn. She’s one of the top students here in training. Miranda, this is a new recruit, Rip Hunter,” Druce said. 

 

New recruits must be rare, because Miranda seemed taken back. “Nice to meet you,” she smiled, and then headed on her way. 

 

“Time Masters have a rule, mister Hunter. Romance is absolutely forbidden for Time Masters,” Druce stated.

 

Rip gulped, and his hand instinctively slipped into his pocket where he kept Amy’s wedding ring. Romance was the main factor driving him for this mission, and his greatest motivation was his love for Amy Pond and Jonas. 

 

“Of course,” Rip muttered. 

 

He knew he would not fall in love with anybody here anyway, so no rules would be broken.  _ Oh Amy _ he thought wistfully. 

 

“Now, a successful Time Master must be able to fly time ships. You will begin your training as soon as possible, as you have plenty to catch up on,” Druce instructed. 

 

He dismissed Rip to his new dormitory, which was filled with advanced-looking technology. The walls were shiny and metallic, there was only a small silver bed in the middle, it was very empty. A cool breeze entered the room from auto detection, it had sensed Rip’s warm body temperature. Rip thought that it resembled one of his TARDIS room’s many renovations. Built into the wall was a slim portscreen encrypted with a database of all of time. Curiously, Rip wandered over and performed a search for “RORY WILLIAMS”. The screen immediately displayed his information; height, date of birth, hometown, and STATUS: UNKNOWN. He practically erased Rory Williams from the timeline from this day on. 

Next, with a pounding heart he searched up AMELIA WILLIAMS. STATUS: DECEASED . It was the same for Jonas. Rip had expected this, but nonetheless his heart sank. 

The information for THE DOCTOR and RIVER SONG were both full of missing pieces of information, and minimal information. Everything The Doctor did seemed to directly cancel out the Time Master’s efforts in protecting the timeline, and considering The Doctor once erased himself from the timeline, it caused confusion for databases and Time Masters alike. 

Finally, he decided to type “DINAH LANCE”. 

Promptly, the screen displayed information completely new to Rip. 

 

LOCATION: STARLING CITY, CENTRAL CITY

PARTNER: QUENTIN LANCE

CHILDREN: LAUREL LANCE, SARA LANCE 

DATE OF BIRTH: UNKNOWN

OCCUPATION: PROFESSOR OF GREEK AND MEDIEVAL HISTORY AT CENTRAL CITY UNIVERSITY 

“River started a family?” Rip murmured to himself out loud as he lied down onto the stiff bed. He had a feeling that his life would change entirely- again, once he began official Time Master training. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow… tomorrow would be the start of his new life. 

  
  



	5. Together, Once and For All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rip sacrifices himself to save time (Legends of Tomorrow 3 x 18)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I haven't updated this in years I know, but this chapter skips ahead and takes place after everything that happened on the show. I was watching the scene where Rip sacrifices himself in 3 x 18 and when I heard him mention his wife and son I thought of my own fic and his wife as Amy, so I HAD to write some of this. Hope it's okay :)

Rip Hunter paced across the barren wheat field, with the heavy metal box containing the time drive in his hand. He’d made the decision a long time ago, but it was finally the right time to follow through on it. It was only a matter of minutes before Mallus would come, and everything would finally stop. Rip felt like Rory again, his old self before he met the Legends, before he started the Time Bureau and before he became a Time Master. He felt like a new person reborn when he took on the role as a Time Master, but he never lost himself in the process. 

He removed the time drive from the case and clutched it tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning ghostly white. The time drive began to glow in an inferno, and it gradually expanded as if taunting him and reminding him that he was getting closer to his death. How ironic was it, that immortality was a recurring theme with Rip/Rory. By now he’d lost track of how many times he had “died” and came back to life. This time it would be once and for all.

Suddenly, a message from Gideon had put Sara into contact with him. 

“Rip,” Sara panted.

“I’m a little busy at the moment, Sara” Rip replied. He took a deep breath and tried to appear as calm as he could. 

“You didn’t tell us that you were buying us time with your life,” she said sternly. 

He tried to reason with her, but he knew that she had every right to be concerned. Rip thought about Amy. Truthfully, he never went a day without thinking about Amy, or their son Jonas but in this particular moment Amy was the only thing on his mind. She’d sacrificed herself to Vandal Savage to protect Jonas. Surely she’d understand his sacrifice to save the Legends, and time itself. Even though he didn’t regularly display his affection, they had become a second family to him. 

“It’s alright Sara. I should very much like to see my wife and son again. I will miss you, Captain Lance. You and the legends. My one hope is that you live up to that name. 

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye, Captain.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the creature approaching. The grotesque beast had horns of a minotaur, wings of a dragon, and an anthropomorphized face. It reminded him of the beast from the alien hotel that he had visited before with the Doctor and Amy. It stepped closer with thunderous footsteps, and began shooting fireballs at Rip’s force field. Mallus growled as the Waverider zipped across the sky, and Rip taunted it to pretend he wasn’t petrified. The creature let out a deafening roar, and Rip knew what was coming next. He closed his eyes and pictured Amy, Jonas, The Doctor, River, and all the Legends. They all made his life the best that it could’ve been, and he wanted to treasure it until the very end. 

With a sweeping rush of wind and fire, Rip saw a blinding flash even with his eyes squeezed shut. The last thing he remembered was Amy’s face in his mind, welcoming him with open arms. 

 


End file.
